What are HTML tags and why count them?

HTML tags are the building blocks of web pages. They define the structure and content of a document by wrapping text and other elements in angle brackets like <div>, <p>, and <img>. Each tag serves a specific purpose—headings organize content hierarchy, paragraphs contain text blocks, and links connect pages together.

Counting HTML tags helps developers understand the composition of their markup. A page with too many nested <div> elements might indicate "div soup," while an absence of semantic tags like <article>, <section>, or <nav> could signal accessibility and SEO issues. Tag analysis reveals patterns in code structure that aren't obvious when reading raw HTML.

How does tag frequency analysis work?

Tag frequency analysis parses an HTML document and counts how many times each tag appears. The parser traverses the document tree, recording every opening tag it encounters. Results are typically sorted by frequency, showing which elements dominate the page structure. Percentages help visualize the relative weight of each tag type within the document.

Tool description

This tool analyzes HTML markup and provides a detailed breakdown of all tags used in the document. It parses your HTML input, counts every tag occurrence, and displays the results in a sortable table with both absolute counts and percentage distribution. The tool handles malformed HTML gracefully and works with both complete documents and HTML fragments.

Examples

Input HTML:

<div class="container">
  <header>
    <h1>Welcome</h1>
    <nav>
      <a href="/">Home</a>
      <a href="/about">About</a>
    </nav>
  </header>
  <main>
    <article>
      <h2>Article Title</h2>
      <p>First paragraph.</p>
      <p>Second paragraph.</p>
    </article>
  </main>
</div>

Output:

Tag Count Percentage
<p> 2 18.18%
<a> 2 18.18%
<div> 1 9.09%
<header> 1 9.09%
<h1> 1 9.09%
<nav> 1 9.09%
<main> 1 9.09%
<article> 1 9.09%
<h2> 1 9.09%

Statistics: 11 total elements, 9 unique tags

Features

  • Real-time analysis: Results update instantly as you type or paste HTML
  • Percentage breakdown: See the relative distribution of each tag type
  • Sorted results: Tags are automatically sorted by frequency (most used first)